When I was growing up, I remember having difficulty finding collaborative piano music of a suitable level. Once I'd hit a certain point, there were duo sonatas and orchestral piano parts galore, and as a younger pianist, there were a reassuring number of studies with teacher play-along parts. But somewhere in the middle, there was a dearth of suitable repertoire. Now that I'm teaching, I can't help but notice that this is the point where most students give up; that middle ground between being able to produce simple, recognisable results, and being able to produce the results you want.
I am, therefore, evangelical about Mike Cornick's series pieces for 6 Hands at 1 Piano released by Universal Edition. 4 Afro-Caribbean Pieces, together with the second instalment of the series, 4 More Afro-Caribbean pieces, landed on my desk this week. In common with all of Universal Edition's educational releases, the series helpfully covers Grades 1 to 8, indicating the approximate level of difficulty. I have noticed that, for the piano series at least, these numbers relate far more closely to Trinity's than ABRSM's syllabus (although there is little space between the two).
So to the piano, and the hilarity of fitting three of us in front of the keyboard, which had my youngest student rolling around in paroxysms for a good 10 minutes. A word of advice – a bench is much more productive than three piano stools, irrespective of the angle you place them at…
4 Afro-Caribbean Pieces
‘Jamaica Farewell’opens the first book; a lively calypso with the melody in octaves at the top of the piano (Grade 2-3). The last few bars introduce some carefully placed thirds, but other than that this is an easy and accessible part for young players. The inner part concentrates on back-beat chords, with voicings and voice leading sympathetic to the small hands being squashed in the middle. The bottom line initially struck me as the familiar teacher's part from my memory, at least until after the first playing. Although a more sophisticated rhythm, and entirely in bass clef, the bottom line proved easily accessible to a Grade 4 pianist.
The rest of the collection proved to be similarly differentiated – one line slightly more musically sophisticated than the other two – aimed at a Grade 4 (or possibly Grade 5) pianist with the other two lines accessible to a Grade 2 or 3 player. The real genius of Cornick's collection is how memorable and infectious the musical material is, without pandering to simplicity or being overtly repetitive. This allows the younger players to swap on to the more difficult lines with some confidence after a few listens.
The choice of genre is also significant – the complexities of Afro-Caribbean rhythmic patterns on the printed page are something young students don't come up against often enough. And as solo pianists, those key musical skills of ensemble listening, rhythmic playing and balancing lines just aren't developed until much later in the musical journey. Especially when compared to their instrumental and singing counterparts, who have the opportunity to build these skills from day one of their music making.
4 More Afro-Caribbean Pieces
In the second book, the voicings become more adventurous and the hand positions shift more widely. There is more sense of all three performers sharing and echoing material between one another. Overall, there seems to be less differentiation between the separate parts, and while the top line involves a greater degree of harmonic variation, there are still enough parallel octaves to make the young pianist feel comfortable.
These two collections make for an ideal assortment of party pieces to round off recitals, or as the introductions suggest, items for musical soirees or diversions for students. And while Cornick understandably underlines the fun aspects of these collections, there is also a serious and valuable aspect to any collection that can encourage students to work on ensemble pieces. Not only are they gaining valuable ensemble, wider listening and audiation skills, but they are also engaging with other musicians and with the whole process of music making.
